Hells Gate

Hells Gate is a narrow, dramatic constriction of the Fraser River in British Columbia’s southern Fraser Canyon, just below Boston Bar, where steep rock walls compress the river into a powerful bottleneck. Long before Europeans named it, First Nations communities used the narrows as an important fishing place because salmon paused and gathered there in conditions well suited to dip-net fishing. After Simon Fraser passed through in 1808, the canyon became a major inland route for gold rush travel and railways. A 1914 rockslide altered the channel and damaged salmon migration, harming Indigenous fishing economies and contributing to later fishway construction and tourism development.

British Columbia · Canada